Blog

Anyone who eats vegetables in India should read these articles.
They highlight the urgent need to follow Srila Prabhupada's advice and grow
our own food.

Times of India

Indian veggies, fruits remain highly toxic
Durgesh Nandan Jha, TNN, Oct 30, 2010, 11.52pm IST

NEW DELHI: Rampant use of banned pesticides in fruits and vegetables
continues to put at risk the life of the common man. Farmers apply
pesticides such as chlordane, endrin and heptachor that can cause serious
neurological problems, kidney damage and skin diseases. A study conducted by
Delhi-based NGO Consumer-Voice reveals that the amount of pesticides used in
eatables in India is as much as 750 times the European standards. The survey
collected sample data from various wholesale and retail shops in Delhi,
Bangalore and Kolkata.

"Out of five internationally-banned pesticides, four were found to be common
in vegetables sold in the Indian markets. Banned pesticides were found in
bitter gourd and spinach,'' said Sisir Ghosh, head of Consumer-Voice. The
banned chemicals included chlordane, a potent central nervous system toxin,
endrin, which can cause headache nausea and dizziness, and heptachor that
can damage the liver and decrease fertility.

Officials said the tests conducted on vegetables at the government-approved
and NABL-accredited laboratory, Arbro Analytical Division, revealed that the
Indian ladies finger contained captan, a toxic pesticide, up to 15,000 parts
per billion (ppb) whereas ladies finger in the EU has captan only up to 20
ppb. "Indian cauliflower can have malathion pesticide up to 150 times higher
than the European standards,'' said an official.

The vegetables studied included potato, tomato, snake gourd, pumpkin,
cabbage, cucumber and bottle gourd, among others. "We have informed the Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India about the excessive use of
pesticides in fruits and vegetables that pose serious health hazards,'' said
Ghosh. He added that strict monitoring from government agencies is required
to check manufacture, import and use of banned pesticides. The pesticide
residue limits have not been reviewed for the past 30 years, said Ghosh.

Earlier this month, the consumer organisation had conducted tests on fruits
sold in Indian markets which again showed that 12 fruits, including bananas,
apple and grapes, had high quantity of pesticides, violating both Indian and
European Union standards. The chemical contents found in fruits were
endosuplhan, captan, thiacloprid, parathion and DDT residues.

Article:

NEW DELHI: It is time to get careful while consuming fruits or vegetables.
The lush and leafy green cabbage and the ''fresh'' apple may contain colours
and chemicals that can lead to serious health problems.

Even after Delhi high court pulled up the state government on the issue, few
steps have been taken to curb the use of harmful chemicals at vegetable
markets. ''The chemicals can cause gastric ulcer, liver problems and kidney
failure. People must be careful and wash fruits and vegetables properly
before use,'' said Dr M P Sharma of Rockland Hospital.

Experts said bottle gourd is often injected with chemical like oxytocin for
faster growth that can cause abnormal growth and other complications in
human beings.

''Fruits and vegetables are brought to Delhi from several parts of the
country. To maintain their 'freshness' and get a better deal out of them,
suppliers and hawkers apply synthetic colours on vegetables and fruits which
contain heavy metals like mercury and lead. Vendors and hawkers apply these
colours particularly on vegetables like okra, beans and bitter gourd,'' said
Sugriv Dubey. He filed a PIL in HC on the issue following which the court
sought explanation from the government on Thursday.

Fruit sellers use chemicals like copper sulphate and calcium carbide to
ripen bananas and mangoes. Sources added that in farms, pesticides and
herbicides are used to excess to get better yield.

A few sellers admit some of them put chemicals in vegetables. ''We have no
other option. We purchase fruits and vegetables at high price. If we sell
the over-ripened or dried up vegetables, no one will buy them,'' said a
vendor.

When contacted, Delhi health minister Kiran Walia said the prevention of
food and adulteration department has collected samples of fruits and
vegetables from markets and those found guilty would be punished. The
minister did not comment on the alleged shortage of field officers in the
department. The department recently purchased more than 20 refrigerators to
preserve samples collected during raids.

Sudesh T Sachdeva, a fruit merchant at the Azadpur Mandi, claimed fruit
sellers here do not use chemicals to ripen fruit. ''At mandi, we do not
apply any chemicals or colours. May be the farmers or the hawkers do it,''
he said.

The news of chemicals in vegetables and fruits has left Delhiites worried.
''I soak all fruits and vegetables in lukewarm water before use. We often
find a ripe fruit with bitter pulp. This is definitely because chemicals are
being used,'' said Promila Badhwar, a housewife.

Article:

NEW DELHI: How fresh and healthy are the vegetables that you consume daily?
Not much, according to the Union health ministry.

In a bid to make them look garden fresh and ensure that they grow faster to
reach markets, farmers are using chemicals at random that threaten to cause
serious health hazards to consumers.

Expressing concern, minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi has said,
"Eating vegetables -- a must for good health -- may pose serious threat to
health, causing nervous breakdowns, sterility and various neurotic
complications because of their chemical content."

In a letter to Union health secretary K Sujatha Rao, Trivedi has called for
immediate action against farmers involved in such unscrupulous acts.

The letter outlines that the health benefits of consuming green vegetables
as a staple diet finds "a sharp contradiction in the present day context".
Farmers are blatantly using hormone shots to help vegetables at a faster
rate. "These hormones may cause irreparable damage to our health, if
consumed over a period of time," Trivedi wrote.

Oxytocin is the most commonly-used hormone, which was earlier primarily
prescribed for pregnant women.

However, the Schedule H drug has been banned since then.

"The hormone can be used only on animals, leave alone vegetables. The even
more shocking element is that the public/authorities may also be aware of
this Oxytocin. In local parlance, it has got many names starting from cocin
and 'paani to dawai', and is available at almost all the general stores,"
the letter said.

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone, which also acts as a neurotransmitter in
brain. The hormone is used clinically to help begin or to continue labour,
to control bleeding after delivery and to stimulate the secretion of breast
milk.

"Researchers have proved that the indiscriminate use of Oxytocin injections
by farmers has been causing health hazards. Oxytocin is being used by fruit
and vegetable growers, who administer it to the plants and climbers which
grow faster and get ready for sale," warned the letter.

The injection is mainly being administered to vegetables like pumpkin,
watermelon, brinjal, gourd and cucumber.

Trivedi also pointed to the rampant use of chemicals like copper sulphates
for artificially colouring both fruits and vegetables. The minister hoped
that the adverse effects of these toxins are scrutinised and their wanton
usuage monitored and looked into immediately.

Milch cows are also administered Oxytocin to augment production of milk.

Calcium carbide is used in fruits for ripening, but can harm eyes and lungs,
besides causing severe irritating and burning sensation of skin. Also, it
may lead to irritation in mouth and throat, and if inhaled can cause both
coughing and wheezing.